Zhenhua Liu, Ph.D.

Current ResearchDiet and lifestyle are modifiable factors which play prominent roles in public health. My laboratory investigates how those factors and their metabolically-related gene variants interact to mediate the development of chronic diseases. Particularly, my research centralizes on the nutritional modulation of the Wnt-signaling pathway as it tightly relates to many chronic diseases including cancer and obesity-associated medical complications. Currently, my laboratory focuses on Nutritional Epigenetics and Obesity-associated Inflammation in the context of the regulation of Wnt pathway and the prevention of cancer. We utilize cell culture and animals, biochemical & molecular techniques, as well as functional genomics and systems biology approaches to understand the etiology of human chronic diseases. The ultimate goal of my laboratory is to integrate our biological findings with dietary and lifestyle strategies to diminish the burden of chronic diseases in our society. - See more at: www.umass.edu/sphhs/person/faculty/zhenhua-liu#sthash.wFvq52Pr.dpuf